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From: "ARS News Service"
To: "ARS News List"
Subject: Protecting Perishables From Package Pests
Date: Fri, Jan 11, 2002, 6:51 AM
STORY LEAD:
Protecting Perishables From Package Pests
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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Rosalie Bliss, (301) 504-4318, rbliss@ars.usda.gov
January 11, 2002
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Insects that invade and penetrate packaged foods really bug store and
homeowners. Packages can become infested anywhere along the marketing chain,
but most often they get infested during transporting or warehousing.
Naturally, manufacturers of food, feed and other processed products prefer
these unwanted guests to go packing.
As an alternative to traditional insecticides, Agricultural Research Service
entomologist Franklin H. Arthur at the Grain Marketing and Production
Research Center in Manhattan, Kan., is conducting new research with insect
growth regulators (IGRs) that severely stunt bugs' growth. IGRs prevent
insect larvae from becoming reproductive adults.
To replicate food-storage conditions, Arthur creates miniature "exposure
arenas" by pouring concrete into petri dishes. Once the concrete hardens, he
sprays the IGRs directly onto the concrete and then exposes the insects to
the treated concrete.
Since IGRs are not normally toxic to humans, they can be used to banish
packaged-food pests, such as the red flour beetle and the confused flour
beetle. Arthur recently evaluated just what effect a volatile formulation of
the IGR named hydroprene has on the bugs. In lab tests, larvae of both
beetle species exposed to hydroprene (sold as Pointsource) often failed to
molt to the adult stage. Of the insects that made it past the stunted-growth
hurdle, most were deformed and died soon after.
Use of Pointsource could be most effective in small, confined spaces in
retail stores and homes.
This research is important because food manufacturers face increased
restrictions for using pesticides. Still, they need to keep packaged foods
insect-free until consumed.
Read more about blocking bugs in the January issue of Agricultural Research
magazine, which is on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan02/pest0102.htm
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
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